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I've just finished setting up my new ubuntu server 10.4 machine, with 2x500 GB SATA disks - which I intended to configure in raid1; specifically, that's what I did during the instalation process:

partitions:

disk 1 - sda:
sda1 - 500mb primary
sda2 - 99gb primary
sda3 extended
sda5 - 399gb extended

disk 2 - sdb:
sdb 1 - 500mb primary
sdb2 - 99gb primary
sdb3 extended
sdb5 - 399gb extended

arrays:

md0 - sda1+sdb1, raid1, ext2, /boot
md1 - sda2+sdb2, raid1, ext4, /
md2 - sda5+sdb5, raid1, not formatted, not mounted during the instalation.

everything went smooth, but when my new system booted up, that's what I saw:

$cat /etc/fstab

   / was on /dev/md1 during installation  
   UUID=cc1a0b10-dd66-4c88-9022-247bff6571a6  
   / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1  
   /boot was on /dev/md0 during installation  
   UUID=7e37165c-ab1c-4bd4-a62b-8b98656fe1f1  
   /boot ext2 defaults 0 2

$cat /proc/partitions

 major minor blocks name  

 8 0 488386584 sda  
 8 1 487424 sda1  
 8 2 97265664 sda2  
 8 3 1 sda3  
 8 5 390631424 sda5  
 8 16 488386584 sdb  
 8 17 487424 sdb1  
 8 18 97265664 sdb2  
 8 19 1 sdb3  
 8 21 390631424 sdb5  
 9 2 390631360 md2  
 259 0 487424 md2p1  
 259 1 97265664 md2p2  
 259 2 1 md2p3  
 259 3 292876224 md2p5  
 9 1 97265600 md1  
 9 0 487360 md0

$cat /proc/mdstat

 Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]  
 md0 : active raid1 md2p1[0]  
 487360 blocks [2/1] [U_]  

 md1 : active raid1 md2p2[0]  
 97265600 blocks [2/1] [U_]  

 md2 : active raid1 sda[0] sdb[1]  
 390631360 blocks [2/2] [UU]  
 [============>........] resync = 63.1% (246865856/390631360) finish=25.9min speed=92459K/sec  

 unused devices: <none>

$mdadm --query --detail /dev/md0

/dev/md0:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:16 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 487360 (476.02 MiB 499.06 MB)  
 Used Dev Size : 487360 (476.02 MiB 499.06 MB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 1  
 Preferred Minor : 0  
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:13:58 2010  
 State : clean, degraded  
 Active Devices : 1  
 Working Devices : 1  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  

 UUID : fefff930:8e4d661c:665cfb90:2bbaf5ad  
 Events : 0.74  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 259 0 0 active sync /dev/md2p1  
 1 0 0 1 removed

$sudo mdadm --query --detail /dev/md1

/dev/md1:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:23 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 97265600 (92.76 GiB 99.60 GB)  
 Used Dev Size : 97265600 (92.76 GiB 99.60 GB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 1  
 Preferred Minor : 1  
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:38:19 2010  
 State : clean, degraded  
 Active Devices : 1  
 Working Devices : 1  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  

 UUID : 68b86560:6150f422:6a741df7:3de5f08f  
 Events : 0.460  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 259 1 0 active sync /dev/md2p2  
 1 0 0 1 removed

$sudo mdadm --query --detail /dev/md2

/dev/md2:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:31 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 390631360 (372.54 GiB 400.01 GB)  
 Used Dev Size : 390631360 (372.54 GiB 400.01 GB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 2  
 Preferred Minor : 2    
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:37:04 2010  
 State : active, resyncing  
 Active Devices : 2  
 Working Devices : 2  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  

 Rebuild Status : 65% complete  

 UUID : fc7dadbe:2230a995:814dd292:d7c4bf75  
 Events : 0.33  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 8 0 0 active sync /dev/sda  
 1 8 16 1 active sync /dev/sdb

$sudo mdadm --query --detail /dev/md2p1

/dev/md2p1:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:31 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 487424 (476.08 MiB 499.12 MB)  
 Used Dev Size : 390631360 (372.54 GiB 400.01 GB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 2  
 Preferred Minor : 2  
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:37:04 2010  
 State : active  
 Active Devices : 2  
 Working Devices : 2  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  

 UUID : fc7dadbe:2230a995:814dd292:d7c4bf75  
 Events : 0.33  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 8 0 0 active sync /dev/sda  
 1 8 16 1 active sync /dev/sdb

$sudo mdadm --query --detail /dev/md2p2

/dev/md2p2:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:31 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 97265664 (92.76 GiB 99.60 GB)  
 Used Dev Size : 390631360 (372.54 GiB 400.01 GB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 2  
 Preferred Minor : 2  
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:37:04 2010  
 State : active  
 Active Devices : 2  
 Working Devices : 2  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  

 UUID : fc7dadbe:2230a995:814dd292:d7c4bf75  
 Events : 0.33  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 8 0 0 active sync /dev/sda  
 1 8 16 1 active sync /dev/sdb

$sudo mdadm --query --detail /dev/md2p3

/dev/md2p3:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:31 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 1  
 Used Dev Size : 390631360 (372.54 GiB 400.01 GB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 2  
 Preferred Minor : 2  
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:37:04 2010  
 State : active  
 Active Devices : 2  
 Working Devices : 2  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  
 UUID : fc7dadbe:2230a995:814dd292:d7c4bf75  
 Events : 0.33  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 8 0 0 active sync /dev/sda  
 1 8 16 1 active sync /dev/sdb

$sudo mdadm --query --detail /dev/md2p5

/dev/md2p5:  
 Version : 00.90  
 Creation Time : Wed Jul 7 16:07:31 2010  
 Raid Level : raid1  
 Array Size : 292876224 (279.31 GiB 299.91 GB)  
 Used Dev Size : 390631360 (372.54 GiB 400.01 GB)  
 Raid Devices : 2  
 Total Devices : 2  
 Preferred Minor : 2  
 Persistence : Superblock is persistent  

 Update Time : Wed Jul 7 17:37:04 2010  
 State : active  
 Active Devices : 2  
 Working Devices : 2  
 Failed Devices : 0  
 Spare Devices : 0  

 UUID : fc7dadbe:2230a995:814dd292:d7c4bf75  
 Events : 0.33  

 Number Major Minor RaidDevice State  
 0 8 0 0 active sync /dev/sda  
 1 8 16 1 active sync /dev/sdb

It seems like instead of building raid1 arrays:
md0 = sda1+sdb1
md1 = sda2+sdb2

something like additional 'sub-arrays' have been built:
md2p1 = sda1+sdb1
md2p2 = sda2+sdb2

and these 'sub-arrays' are configured as parts of md0 and md1 arrays. Because I only have 2 disks (partitions) for each array, mdadm correctly builds md2p1 and md2p2 from 2 partitions each, but then starts main arrays: md0 and md1 as degraded - because they only consist from 1 'sub-array' each.

Now I'm wondering - what did I do wrong? Or maybe everything is ok, and I just don't understand some part of this configuration? But it really doesn't seem that way - md0 and md1 are clearly marked as degraded. So now - how do I make it right? Do I have to reinstall the system? better now, just after the installation, then later, after I put some effort in configuring and securing it. But maybe there are some nice mdadm tricks just to make everything ok? Help please :) Thanks!

cat /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf 
# mdadm.conf
#
# Please refer to mdadm.conf(5) for information about this file.
#

# by default, scan all partitions (/proc/partitions) for MD superblocks.
# alternatively, specify devices to scan, using wildcards if desired.
DEVICE partitions

# auto-create devices with Debian standard permissions
CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes

# automatically tag new arrays as belonging to the local system
HOMEHOST <system>

# instruct the monitoring daemon where to send mail alerts
MAILADDR root

# definitions of existing MD arrays
ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=fefff930:8e4d661c:665cfb90:2bbaf5ad
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=68b86560:6150f422:6a741df7:3de5f08f
ARRAY /dev/md2 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=fc7dadbe:2230a995:814dd292:d7c4bf75

# This file was auto-generated on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:18:30 +0200
# by mkconf $Id$
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3
  • Is there a reason you're using extended partitions? If that's because you might want to make more than 4 partitions on one phyisical disk, you'd better use lvm.
    – Jasper
    Jul 7, 2010 at 15:15
  • Please use some formatting, it'll be much easier to read than <huge wall of text>. Also, please include your mdadm.conf file.
    – Andrew
    Jul 7, 2010 at 17:41
  • @Jasper, ok, I can disassemble md2, reformat partitions as lvm, and build new array, that's a good idea, thanks; but it doesn't really solve my problem with md0 and md1. @Andrew, added mdadm.conf, will try to fix the formatting soon. thanks!
    – donwito
    Jul 8, 2010 at 6:39

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

seems to be a rather serious bug:

fix will be shipped with ubuntu 10.04.2 - workaround possible as described at launchpad

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-base/+bug/569900

i suffered hard from this issue trying to get a proper software raid running with to 500,1GB HDDs.

All one as a bug-victim has to do is to leave some space free at the end of the last partition and everything will be fine again :) . so don't choose the default value which gets wrongly calculated by partman.

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0

After two days of trying, deassembling and re-creating arrays etc., I finally had to try a clean installation. This time I went with just 3 primary partitions, for: /boot, / and /var, and everything is working fine. It's not an actual solution, but it works.

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